Henry went down for his afternoon nap like he always does – I gave him his pacifier, he cried and fussed for a bit, and then he finally fell asleep. I checked on him several times as I often do, just to make sure that he was breathing fine and was resting peacefully. I did notice that as he sucked on his pacifier, it sounded different than usual, but I didn’t pay it much attention.
Several hours later, I was getting ready to put him down for his second nap and I grabbed the same pacifier out of his crib. I stuck it in his mouth as we sat in the rocking chair but it quickly fell on the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, I noticed that it was basically in two pieces, with the top part of the pacifier holding on by a thread. My heart stopped as I realized just how easily the piece could have broken off and become lodged in Henry’s throat. What’s even scarier is that we most likely wouldn’t have even realized it.
The first thing I did was pray and thank Heavenly Father for protecting our son. I’m a firm believer in the power of prayer and I do believe that our little boy had been kept from harm. The second thing I did was take a good look at the pacifier and try to determine if Henry had chewed through it with his four new teeth, or if our dog Oscar had previously gotten hold of it and I somehow had not noticed. The third thing I did was tell the CPA what had happened so that he could understand why I suddenly didn’t want to let Henry out of my sight. And the fourth thing was to officially swear “no more pacifiers” from this day forward. We had planned on taking them away around six months anyway, so now seems as good a time as any.
It was a catastrophe averted and everyone is fine, but I’m having a hard time shaking this awful feeling. The horrible “what if” question keeps running through my mind as I realize what a close call it could have been. Such a small thing, too. A pacifier – most moms use them all the time without incident. Granted, most moms don’t have a Cockapoo that loves to chew on things, but still. (I’m not a 100% convinced it was Oscar’s fault but I can’t prove that Henry chewed through it either. Better to be safe than sorry.)
If nothing else, this incident has reminded me yet again how fragile these little babies are, even if they seem to be getting bigger by the minute. It’s shown me yet again how much I love our little boy and what a responsibility it is to be his parent. And it’s reaffirmed once more how thankful I am for my belief in a Father in Heaven who watches over us and protects us.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on our little guy one more time…
Have you ever had any “close calls”as a parent? How do you get past the fear and stop worrying so much?
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